


Dennis Comes Back

by alltears



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: M/M, MacDennis - Freeform, Post-Season/Series 12, Spoilers, dennis is soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-10-15 19:10:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10556220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alltears/pseuds/alltears
Summary: Mac is feeling alone. Mac misses Dennis. Mac watched Predator by himself.(aka: dennis has Big Feelings, okay?)





	

**10:00 am**

 

**On a Wednesday**

  
  


Somehow, it had never been harder to set the scene for The Gang. Sure, they were in the pub like always. They were drinking the same beers they always drink. They were also all gathered around that one corner of the bar they always stand around. Only today, on this particular Wednesday, Charlie, Mac, Dee, and Frank sipped in silence. Dennis had left just under a week ago. All four of them were bummed, obviously, but it seemed no one was taking it harder than Mac.

 

If you asked Mac, he’d tell you he was upset because Dennis was an unconscious constant. Whenever he looked to his left, there Dennis was - his brow furrowed and a judging frown glued on, or a smile crinkling the corners of his blue eyes, or… Well, Mac sometimes got carried away trying to remember all the tiny details. The Gang explained to Mac that he’d always done that, long before Dennis left the state. (This did not comfort him.)

 

More than anything, Mac would imagine what would happen when (if?) Dennis came home. He liked to think that Dennis would knock on their door, and the second Mac opened it, he’d swoop Mac up in his arms and tell him that he thought about him and Charlie and Dee and Frank every single day he was in North Dakota. That there was no one he missed more than Mac. That when he laid in bed at night, Dennis itched to reach for the phone and call Mac just to talk for hours on end.

 

Part of Mac knew this was unrealistic. Dennis had a son now. He had forgotten about his family from Philly. And that was fine with The Gang. Really.

 

“Whaddya guys wanna do today?” Charlie broke the tension. Mac  _ hmph-ed  _ in response, at which Charlie and Dee rolled their eyes. 

 

“Mac, we know you miss Dennis, but-” Dee started, but Mac quickly stood up from his seat at the bar stool and pointed a finger in her face.

 

“Hey, no! I don’t miss Dennis any more than you guys do! I mean, why would I?” The three of them huffed out a laugh at that. “What’s so funny?”

 

“You were obviously in love with the guy! There was nothin’ wrong with it, but you’ve gotta get over him already,” Frank drank about half his beer in one, large gulp as Mac stared, horrified. He gaped at his friends with wide eyes, struggling for words, as they looked nonchalantly back.

 

“I-I was not in love with him! I have no idea why you would think that!” The Gang started talking over each other, each member listing various moments between the two that they had interpreted as sexual tension. Dee clapped her hands four times, calling all attention to her.

 

“Okay, okay, I don’t have time for this whole song and dance,” She paused for effect, during which Charlie butted in with a “what plans do  _ you  _ have?” under his breath. “Just - Dennis is never coming home to you, or at least not for a long time. Accept it!” 

 

_****"Dennis Comes Back"_

 

It wasn’t until that weekend that Dennis came back to Philadelphia. It was late Saturday night, and Mac had been staring at the DVD cover art for  _ Predator  _ for almost 4 hours at that point, completely engulfed in his own thoughts. Mac was conflicted: On one hand, he hadn’t seen it for a few months, and he felt the need to reevaluate Arnold Schwarzenegger's physique and compare it to the people around him (Charlie, Frank, Cricket, himself, and Dennis. Secretly). On the other hand, however, every time he’d seen this movie, Dennis was sitting next to him. 

 

Usually, Dennis would sit two or three feet away from him, on the other side of their shared couch. But once - just once, on a day and time almost exactly like what Mac was living then - Dennis was especially tired. This was Mac’s favorite version of Dennis. The Dennis that didn’t have his boundaries up, and would let himself be comfortable around his best friend.

 

_ “I love this scene,” Dennis’ voice was hardly above a whisper. Mac could barely hear him over the white noise of the movie. He had opened his mouth to respond, but all that escaped him was a slight gasp when Dennis shifted his position to lay his head on Mac’s shoulder and sling his arm over his waist. For a moment, they both stiffened, pretending to watch the movie instead of acknowledging their close proximity. But then Dennis sighed and closed his eyes, pressing against Mac until he put his arm around Dennis’ shoulders in return. _

 

_ “What are you doing?” Mac whispered. He immediately regretted his decision and crinkled up his face, mentally praying that Dennis didn’t hear him. But no, Dennis frowned and gripped the fabric of Mac’s ‘RIOT’ shirt. _

 

_ “Does it matter? Let’s just watch the movie,” He said. Mac nodded and took a sip of his beer. _

 

_ “Whatever you say, Den.” _

 

Mac kept playing that moment on a loop in his brain. Neither of them, as far as he knew, had never told a soul about what happened, and Mac liked it that way. The two of them spent so much time around their other friends that they hardly ever got time to themselves. And that was fine, for the most part, but he also always felt that Dennis became another person around the rest of The Gang. Sometimes, Mac had the urge to punch Dennis right in the-

 

There were three knocks at the door.

 

Mac took his phone out of his pocket and checked the time.  _ 3:27 am.  _ Only crazy people knocked on someone’s door at 3:00 in the morning, but Mac was tough. Whoever that guy was, he could choke him out in mere seconds if it came to that. Mac set down the DVD and jumped to his feet, eager to prove his worth to The Gang later when he recounted this story at the bar later. He rushed to the door with extreme gusto, and took a second to prepare mentally and physically while his hand rested on the knob. All in one motion, Mac swung the door open and slashed his left hand diagonally in front of him (a classic karate move).

 

“Hey, Mac,” Dennis said, his lips quirking up as he gave Mac a once-over. Mac, in shock, took a step back and lowered his defenses. Dennis wandered on his own, glancing around the room before taking a seat on his side of the couch. “Aw, man, were you watching  _ Predator  _ without me? Not cool, pal!” He picked up the DVD case from the couch and turned it over, scanning the back. When Mac didn’t respond, he set the movie down on the coffee table and looked up at Mac, who was still hovering in front of the open door. Mac blinked, hard, and rubbed at his eyes. When the image of Dennis in front of him didn’t fade, he closed the door and joined Dennis in front of the TV.

 

“Dennis, what are you doing here? Why aren’t you in North Dakota right now?” Dennis shook his head, and averted his gaze from Mac’s insistent eyes.

 

“Can we not talk about that? Just for right now?” He pleaded softly. Mac understood what it was like to feel the need to hide yourself, but Dennis had always been on a different level. The amount of effort he used to keep every vulnerable thing about him secret concerned him. The entire Gang would be so much healthier if they actually addressed their feelings… but Mac was gonna let this slide. He’d do anything for Dennis, after all.

 

“Sure, dude. Whatever you need,” He hesitated. Mac turned his gaze to the portion of their wall above the TV and beneath the ceiling before continuing. “But… For when you  _ do  _ wanna talk about it… I’m here for y-” The moment Mac turned back to Dennis, their lips touched, cutting off his sentence. Mac gasped, softly, but moved into the kiss unconsciously. Dennis’ hands found their way to Mac’s face, the fingertips gently brushing against his jawline. 

 

“I… I want you to honor and remember what I am about to say,” Dennis stated once they broke apart. They still stayed millimeters apart, as if they were being magnetically pulled towards each other. “I’m sorry I left you like that. I’m sorry I left you at all.”

 

“I forgive you,” Mac breathed out. He sealed the distance between them again, relishing in the unmistakable movement of Dennis smiling through the kiss. When they pulled apart (yes, again), they put a large amount of space between them. Mac pursed his lips in thought, while Dennis cleared his throat to fill the new, heavy silence. Dennis rested his feet out on the coffee table and nudged the (now long-forgotten)  _ Predator  _ disc with his shoe.

 

“Wanna watch the movie?” He didn’t give Mac the chance to answer, because he was suddenly on his feet with the disc in hand. He changed all the settings to the way Mac likes them, save for the subtitles - Mac always wanted the font  _ way  _ too big, and it distracted from the actual pictures. Still, Mac allowed him to press play, and Dennis sat back on the couch. 

 

However, for the second time in MacDennis Apartment history, Dennis had no problem with snuggling up against Mac’s side while the opening scene of  _ Predator  _ played in front of them. Only this time, nobody was drunk, or high, or so tired their judgement was clouded. Dennis hummed contentedly. 

 

“You know, I think that if Bill Duke tried this new drink Charlie and I are thinking about - it’s like Fight Milk, but better - then he would get, like, three times as buff!” Dennis shook his head against Mac’s shoulder and closed his eyes. “Whaddya think?”

 

Dennis already had snarky comeback after snarky comeback flooding into his brain, and he opened his mouth to fire one off… but stopped himself. Smiling, ever-so-slightly, he nodded, and laced his fingers with Mac’s (dorito-stained?) ones.

 

“Hah. Yeah, Mac. Whatever you say.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Check out my stan twitter @SUNSHlNEBELLAMY (lowercase L in place of first i), or my (very new) iasip tumblr, @charliesmilksteak. Leave a kudos or comment and I'll love you forever. Thanks!


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